The Wii U and Nintendo 3DS are two consoles that went down very different paths for Nintendo. While the Wii U failed to ever catch on and only had a five-year lifespan before Nintendo brought out the Switch, the 3DS was extremely popular worldwide and continued to receive new games well past its expiration date.
However, both consoles don’t do much more than collect dust these days as Nintendo rolls around in its piles of money from Switch console sales. So it was unsurprising when Nintendo announced that the two consoles’ respective eShops would close in March of 2023.
Unfortunately, despite many fans asking Nintendo to reconsider for the sake of game preservation, Nintendo hasn’t changed its mind. It recently confirmed that both eShops will shut down on March 23, 2023, and it was also stated that the final day to add funds to these accounts with Nintendo eShop cards will be August 29, 2022.
Updates on the discontinuation of #eShop for Wii U and Nintendo 3DS family systems:
– As of 8/29/2022, it will no longer be possible to add funds.
– As of 3/27/2023, purchases will no longer be available.More details:https://t.co/T1GJfjxYMF
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) July 19, 2022
It’s also worth noting that anyone interested in purchasing Fire Emblem Fates will need to do so a month beforehand as that will be removed from the shop in February 2023. On the plus side, anyone that has already purchased a game on the eShop will be able to download games to their consoles for the foreseeable future. So get on that while you still can.